UNISON - WA ACDA's Online Newsletter
Articles and news
Information about WA ACDA's Board Members
Josh Viles - Editor, UNISON,
R&S Chair for Male Choirs
J
osh Viles is in his 4th year as choral director at Hazen High School in the
Renton School District. At Hazen, Josh
conducts the Concert Choir, Divina Voce Women’s Ensemble, Man Choir and
beginning Treble Chorus. Hazen’s choirs have enjoyed enormous success
over the past four years earning superior marks at league contests, participating
in university invitationals and completing successful tours. Divina
Voce and Man Choir have consistently been selected to compete in the
WMEA State Ensemble Contest and both earned superior ratings at the 2007
competition.
In addition to his position on the ACDA board, Josh
is also the Soundview Region President-Elect and helps coordinate the
region’s festival activities. Josh lives in Federal Way with his
wife Sarah.
Joel Ulrich, Music in Worship
J
oel Ulrich served as Choral Director/Music Dept. Chair at Bellevue Christian H.S., 1969-2008.
He has also served as Choir Director and/or Organist at Crossroads Baptist Church, 1971-1977; Newport Covenant Church, 1979-1983; 1st Presbyterian Church, Bellevue, 1983-1989; Westminster Chapel, Bellevue, 1993-1995;1st Presbyterian Church, Snohomish, 1995-2002; 1st Covenant Church, Seattle, 2006-present.
His choirs have done concert tours of all the western states/Canadian provinces as well as four European concert tours.
Brian Mitchell, Senior High Choirs
Brian Mitchell has been teaching choral music at Mark Morris High School in Longview since the fall of 1995.
Currently, Mark Morris High School has four choirs: treble choir, jazz choir, beginning large mixed choir and an advanced chamber choir.
He also co-directs the Columbian Choral Ensemble, a community choir. In 2002, Brian received his Master of Music Education and in 1995 he received his Bachelor of Music degree, both from Central Washington University.
Leora Schwitters, Treasurer
L
eora Schwitters, retired after 25 years in public education in 2006,
most of which was at the junior high level in Kent, WA. She holds
a B.M. from the Yankton College Conservatory of Music in South
Dakota and a M.A.T. from the University of Washington. She now
directs Rainier Youth Choirs.
Active as a clinician and adjudicator,
Leora serves on the board of the Tahoma Chapter of NATS and has
presided over the Green River Music Region organization. She
and retired husband, Larry, are avid birders.
Telephone: 425-392-9161 or 425-681-5885 (C)
Email: l.schwitters@mac.com
Sue Green, Membership
S
ue Lundy Green has been a K-12 vocal music specialist for twenty four years. She is currently the choir director at Graham-Kapowsin High School in the Bethel School District and also provides some music overload instruction at Graham Elementary School. Prior to this, Sue taught two years at Meeker Middle School and five years in elementary music and choir at Jenkins Creek Elementary in the Kent School District. In Oregon, Sue directed secondary choirs for the Scappoose School District in Oregon, headed the music program at Portland Public Schools’ performing arts high school magnet program, and directed choirs in Banks and Roseburg, Oregon.
She has a Masters of Music from the University of Arizona and a Bachelors Degree in Music Education from Willamette University. Sue is currently the Western Liaison for Washington ACDA, and was the Membership Chair for Oregon ACDA before moving to the Puget Sound area. She is married to Jonathan and is the stepmother to two boys, Matthew & Joshua.
Howard
Meharg, Webmaster
H
oward Meharg taught choral music in the schools of Castle
Rock, Kelso, and Longview for 30 years. He retired from choral work at
Mark Morris High School, in Longview, in 1995 and came back to Mark Morris
to head a program for at-risk ninth grade students for seven years.
Howard holds a Master's Degree in Music Education from
Western Washington University. His career includes two tours with the Norman
Luboff Choir. He is also the founder of Male Ensemble Northwest, a professional
ensemble made up of choral dirrectors from all across the northwest. He
retired from singing in the group in 2000.
In 2009 Howard founded and continues to conduct "Chor Anno," (the annual choir) made up largely of choral professionals who direct choirs in the northwest.
He has served as president of WA-ACDA twice...in 1969 and then again in 1995-96. Under his leadership (with the able assistance of a good many far-sighted board members, but especially Twyla Brunson) he helped start the Summer Institute. Howard is webmaster for WA-ACDA, the NW division, including all six states in the division. He also built and maintains the ACDA website for the state of Arkansas. He served as editor of the WA-ACDA newsletter, UNISON, for over ten years.
Darcy Morrissey, Children's Choirs and Community Youth Choirs
Darcy Morrissey conducts Amabile, a training choir made up of girls ages nine through thirteen, within the Northwest Girlchoir organization. She received her Bachelors Degree in Music Education from Central Washington University and is currently pursuing a Masters of Music Education from the University of St. Thomas.
During nine years as a professional public school educator, Darcy taught every age group in the Lake Washington School District and nearly every type of music class, including guitar, general music, orchestra, keyboard, and choir. She is highly sought after as a clinician for local choral festivals and as an adjudicator for Solo Ensemble Festivals. Darcy has mentored student teachers, college students, and colleagues in choral curriculum building and classroom techniques. Along with directing various district honor choirs, she also established and coordinated the annual LWSD Tenor & Bass Institute which promotes young male camaraderie through singing.
Darcy received Kirkland Junior High's Golden Acorn Award for outstanding educator in 2008 and was awarded the 2009 Outstanding Educator of the Year Award from the Kirkland Rotary Club. Darcy currently serves as the WA-ACDA R&S Chair for Children and Community Youth Choirs and as secretary for WA-ACDA Board.
She also works as a professional choral singer for local churches and records movie previews, movie, and video game soundtracks. Darcy is married to Stephen and mother to two sons, Jack and Aaron.
Ron Bayer, WMEA Liaison
Ron is the director of choirs at Green River Community College, where
he is also fine arts division chair and teaches courses in theory and
appreciation. He also directs Rainier Chorale, a Kent based community
chorus.
Ron holds a B. A. from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, with K-12
certification in both instrumental and vocal music and a Master of Music
degree in choral music from the University of Illinois where he assisted
Harold Decker as rehearsal pianist.
He has also pursued post graduate work at Western Michigan University where he assisted Steve Zegree, studying jazz and traditional choral music.
Following the lure of the mountains, he left the Midwest to teach at Mt. Vernon High School, after successful teaching stints in Wisconsin and Minnesota. He is currently in his fourteenth year at the college.
Ron has served three terms on the WMEA board, most recently as treasurer and was installed in the Washington State Music Teacher’s Hall of Fame in 2004. An avid mountaineer is his off time, he also finds time to relax at home and build furniture in his shop.
Julie Parsons, Youth and Student Activities
J
ulie Parsons is the Managing Director for The Inverse Opera. She holds a BA in Vocal Performance from Central College (IA) and a MM in Choral Conducting from New England Conservatory, and is currently working toward her DMA from the University of Washington.
She has conducted choirs and orchestras in London, Boston, as well as the West Coast. Julie is a regular Musical Director for Youth Theatre Northwest, as well as musical directing for New Door Theatrics and the University of Washington.
She serves Maplewood Presbyterian Church as Worship Coordinator, and is a member of the ACDA National Technology Committee.
Barbara A. Tappa, Eastern Liaison
Barbara Tappa has been the Director of Choral Music at Joel E. Ferris High School in Spokane, Washington since 2007.
Barbara has directed junior and senior high school choirs in Moses Lake and Woodinville, Washington; Anaheim, California; and Havelock, North Carolina.
She taught elementary school in Oslo, Norway and elementary music in Spokane.
Barbara has been a cantor and choir director at churches in the United States, Japan, and Norway.
Joel Karn, Women's Choirs
J
oel Karn is Director of Choirs at Heritage High School in Vancouver, Washington. He received his Bachelors degree in Music from Portland State University, where he also received his Master of Education. Joel directed the choirs at Fort Vancouver High School and McLoughlin Middle School for five years before moving to Heritage where he has been for the past nine years.
He has been an active member of ACDA for the past 14 years as well as the Lower Columbia Regional Music Educators, serving as President in 2006. Joel received his National Board Certification in 2008. He is currently serving as Repertoire and Standards Chair for Women’s Choirs for the Washington ACDA.
Charlotte Reese, Jazz Choirs
Charlotte Reese has served as choir director at Edmonds Woodway High School since 2007. A graduate of Edmonds School District over the last 14 years she has taught Summer Music, elementary band, guitar, jazz band, directed elementary honor choirs, served as an accompanist and drum line coach. She previously taught junior high choir in the Lake Washington School district. After studying jazz at EdCC she earned a B.A & B.M. from the University of Washington and an M.A. in Jazz Performance from the Leeds College of Music in England where she taught jazz voice at the University of York.
Brian Hoskins, Multi-Cultural Perspectives
B
rian Hoskins received his BA in Music Education from Washington State University and Masters Degree in Music Education from the Steinhardt School at New York University. Brian is the choral director at Nelsen Middle School (12 years) and Lindbergh High School (4 years) in Renton, Washington where he teaches 330 students in 6 choral divisions from 6th to 12th grade.
Brian is a two time recipient of the “Ahead of the Class: Excellence in Teaching Award” given to outstanding teachers by the Renton Chamber of Commerce.
In Renton, Brian’s Middle School Concert Chorus has premiered several works from local and national composers. The NMS Concert Chorus has performed on stage at Seattle’s Paramount Theater and has also performed with and premiered New York composer/jazz pianist Pete Malinverni’s jazz/gospel suite “Joyful!”. In New York, studying with Francisco Nunez and David Elliott, Brian was a Conductor in Residence, Satellite School Conductor and Intermediate Chorus Conductor for the Young People Chorus (YPC) of New York City. Through the YPC Satellite School Program Brian conducted 6-8 grade chorus at Intermediate School (IS) 218 and 5th grade chorus/general music at the Harlem KIPP S.T.A.R Intermediate School.
As a pianist, Brian has accompanied several MENC and ACDA honor choirs as well as various soloists and ensembles throughout the Washington State and New York City areas. In July of 2004, Brian had the honor of performing with and accompanying the Young Men’s Chorus and Concert Chorus of the YPC in their Gold Medal winning performances at the World Choral Olympics in Bremen, Germany. Brian is also featured on two albums (“Songs To Get You From Here To There” and “By the Side of the Lake”) with Seattle folk artist Wes Weddell playing the Hammond-XK2. Brian performs on electric bass with his own band ‘Mixed Bag’ and with the Wes Weddell ‘Super Band’ year round.
April Duvic, Two-Year College
A
pril Brookins Duvic is the Vocal Music Program Director at Clark College where she conducts the Concert Choir, Women's Choral Ensemble and co-directs the Clark College Chorale.
She teaches courses in applied voice, music education, and music appreciation.
She is a two-time recipient of the Clark College Exceptional Faculty Award for educational excellence.
Timothy 
Westerhaus, College and University Choirs
Timothy Westerhaus serves as the director of choral and vocal activities at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, and he is active throughout the U.S. as a conductor, educator, tenor, and pianist. He has served as assistant chorus master for the Oregon Bach Festival, prepared choruses for Monica Huggett and Portland Baroque Orchestra, and assisted Kathy Saltzman Romey in chorus preparation for Helmuth Rilling in Germany. Timothy received his formal degrees from the University of St. Thomas (B.A.) and BostonUniversity (M.M.), where he is completing doctoral studies with Ann Howard Jones.
Brad Wills, Western Liaison
Brad Wills has been an educator for 24 years. For the past 10 years he has been an Elementary Music Specialist at Fairwood Elementary in Kent. In addition to teaching classes K-6, he directs a choir twice a week before school. He studied piano at Wheaton College and has enjoyed serving as an accompanist for Rainier Youth Choirs, Columbia Choirs, and various solo and ensemble events. He received his MA. Ed from the UW.
Rhonda Slinkard, Junior High and Middle School Choirs
Rhonda Slinkard directs choral music at La Center Middle School in La Center, WA. She received her BS in Music Education at Warner Pacific College and her Masters Degree in Education at WSU in Vancouver.
Rhonda sings in the Portland Symphonic Choir and frequently sings on the worship team at her church. She also teaches a middle school drama class and coaches girl's basketball and track. Spare time activities include spending time with her husband and two beautiful dogs, along with hiking, running and playing the piano.
Neil Lieurance, Community Choirs
Neil Lieurance currently is currently an Adjunct Professor of Music at Seattle Pacific University. He directed choirs at Shorecrest High School in Shoreline for 27 years and also served as choir director at Seattle First Baptist Church and Seattle First United Methodist for over 25 years.
As a community choir director, he has led the Cascadian Chorale, Seattle Symphony Chorale (Interim Director), and Choir of the Sound (Associate Conductor for nine years). Neil attended Lower Columbia College and holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Western Washington University.